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Charleston architect firm receives AIA honors
By Business Journal staff
Charleston’s Schmitt Walker Architects Inc. recently received these awards for its residential designs from the American Institute of Architects, South Carolina Chapter, at the 2005 Spring Conference of AIA South Carolina held in Columbia.
The firm won two Honor Awards for its design of private residences in the Robert Mills Residential Design Awards program sponsored by the AIA and South Carolina Homes and Gardens magazine.
The first home, which received an Honor Award in the over 5,000-square-foot category, is located on Edisto Island. It is a two-building residential compound constructed on a seven-acre site overlooking the salt marsh and a deep-water creek. One building is the main house, and the second building is a garage with a guest suite on the second level. Exterior materials consist of brick, cedar shingles and a copper standing seam roof.
The second home, which received an Honor Award in the under 5,000-square-foot category, located on Cane Island near Beaufort. Built on a small and heavily wooded site overlooking the Beaufort River, this home takes full advantage of the site for privacy, cooling breezes and panoramic views. Exterior materials consist of brick foundations, painted wood siding and trim, and standing seam metal roof painted red as is traditional in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
The firm also received an Honor Award for its design of One Vendue Range in downtown Charleston recognizing it as an outstanding example of how to successfully design a project of today within the context of a significant historic urban center.
Located in the historic district, One Vendue Range is a mixed-use project of residential condominiums and an art gallery over parking designed to be an extension of the existing urban fabric in terms of view corridors, building massing, materials and detailing. It acts as a background for the existing waterfront park and has dramatic views of Charleston Harbor beyond. The city of Charleston’s development program called for residential condominiums and an art gallery, which would be operated by the city.
The city’s primary design objectives were to achieve a project that would be an extension of the existing urban fabric from East Bay Street to the harbor, and at the same time create an appropriately scaled backdrop for the existing waterfront park. An important part of extending the existing urban fabric into the project was the requirement that the existing streets coming off of East Bay Street continue through the project as view corridors to the harbor, and as a means of pedestrian access into the waterfront park.
The focal point of One Vendue Range is the art gallery building with a pineapple fountain that is the centerpiece of the waterfront park. This strong relationship between the buildings and the park creates a venue for outdoor art, concerts and social gatherings.
On the Prioleau Street side the art gallery building is set back from the street to create a small urban plaza that gives relief from the pattern of narrow streets and becomes an extension of the waterfront park into the neighborhood.
Schmitt Walker Architects Inc. is a design-oriented architectural firm located in Charleston, whose work is primarily in the areas of housing, recreation, golf and community facilities.
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